Emacs or ViM ?

[philkiwi2k3]

first of all:
THIS IS NOT AN EDITOR WAR !!!

i just want to give me the reasons why you use ViM not Emacs or why you use Emacs not ViM.

this helps me choosing :)
thank you

[Hayl]

philkiwi2k3,

nice try, but i can 99.9% guarantee this will turn into a war. i have never seen the vi/emacs question asked on any forum or irc channel without it turning into a flame war. however, i hope you can prove me wrong. :) :) :)

that being said, please try using the search funtion as there are already a on of posts on this subject. here is one i found with the search text "emacs vim":

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90542&highlight=vim+emacs

[philkiwi2k3]

sorry i didnt know that "search" was for the forum :).
i thought it was to seach justlinux.com documents.

iAmPhil

[Nylex]

I use Emacs cos I find it easier to use and also cos it doesn't run in a terminal.

[Icarus]

Originally posted by Nylex
I use Emacs cos I find it easier to use and also cos it doesn't run in a terminal. Huh?
I prefer my editor being able to run in a terminal, if GUI is not working I'd like to still be able to work...
...besides, doesn't emacs run in a terminal :confused:


Let the flamewar begin!!!


VI all the way. Most likely to be installed on almost any Unix system you run into, light and flexable

If I wanted an editor that also doubles as a calander/email client/journal/contact list/notes/etc I would use MSOutlook :D

I hear the next version of emacs is built on top of the UT2003 engine :)

[cfaun5]

Try them both and I think you will find VIM is better.

[moojuece]

joe!!!!
i just tried joe for the first time....it is by far the best editor i have ever used.....i love it....between that and midnight commandor i dont know if i will ever need X again!

[elderdays]

Pen and paper man hands down! I can easily compose documents and even have the option to insert drawings ANYWHERE in the document. Another useful function of the pen and paper editor is that, if you use the post-it note paper (available as a plug-in) you can draw "frames" on each sheet and flip through fast to create the effect of a motion picture effect.

When I'm not using the above, I use vi though. :w :q

[bae127]

I use vim because it is small and fast - my computer is old :(

The other reason that I use vim is because I can edit files on remote machines and know for sure that vim (or vi) will be there. I also find the editing to be tolerable over a slow modem connection with vim.

These are MY reasons for using vim. YOU need to try them both to see which one fits YOUR needs. The reason there exists more than one editor is because every person is different and everyone values different interfaces/capabilities. Try them both. ;)

[Gaxus]

Vim.

I prefer the controls (if that's what you can call them :D)

It's also lighter and faster than emacs.

[moojuece]

i will have to change my response....because of this thread i decided to give vi a try....i have always disliked emacs...not sure why so i didnt even bother looking at it....well after looking at the man and finding a vi cheat sheet i would have to say i love vi....it is without a doubt the finest editor i have ever used....not incredably intuitive but with a steep learning curve you get to the top faster :D

[hyp_spec]

o.O nano !!
<<
>>

never bothered w/ emacs and i think vims too confusing =/

[kmj]

[i]
never bothered w/ emacs and i think vims too confusing =/ [/B]

You could try it with the -y switch, that enters easy mode. I don't recommend using it though, because then you don't have easy access to the tremendous power of vim. Also, there are some fabulous vim tutorials out there; you don't need all of it's power immediately, even a novice vimmer will see many benefits from using vim.

Also, a response above implied that vim didn't have a gui mode. It does, gvim. I have vi aliased to gvim in my shell, so I can use gvim if I want, or just vim in a shell if I need to.

NOTE: I'm a vimmer all the way; I love it like the child I never had. It's probably one of the most useful tools in my life currently.. like a hacker's utility belt; that said, other than the whole "doesn't need X" thing, from a coding perspective, vim and emacs are really equally powerful. So just try them both and use the one you like.

[hyp_spec]

o.O i was bored and tried out that 'vimtutor' app o.O fun stuff lol. Its interesting but gonna take me a while to learn o.o

[chrism01]

Vi because its light, fast, and just about guaranteed to be installed on any Unix style system you ever come across.
Also, its usually a minimal version of vi you get when you have to rescue a system via the boot floppy....

:)

[ljfong]

Vim is basically Vi with a lot of features Emacs users take for granted :
- Syntax highlighting
- Multiple window editing
- Integrated file browser
- Turing complete scripting language
- and many many more.

I would love to do web browsing, email and reading net news from within Vim as well, but that would make it too similar to Emacs heh.

[mikeshn]

Originally posted by ljfong
Vim is basically Vi with a lot of features Emacs users take for granted :
- Syntax highlighting
- Multiple window editing
- Integrated file browser
- Turing complete scripting language
- and many many more.

I would love to do web browsing, email and reading net news from within Vim as well, but that would make it too similar to Emacs heh.

Integrated file browser.... Can you give an example?

[ljfong]

Yep, try this :

:e .

in command mode.

[serz]

I will try to learn some Vim...Hopefully "willtutor" will help me :p

[sclebo05]

when i can get away with it, pico. nano is also a good rewrite of it. but i have to admit, vi shows up on every damn *nix system i have ever been on, so its good to learn.

[kshim5]

Use VI because it runs on windowz and linux.

[ljfong]

The only drawback of Vi/Vim is the high learning curve of the editor before you can do anything useful with it. Often, beginners are very discouraged of the different editing modes and the independence from mouse offered. There are "easy" mode of Vim, but the problem is, beginners usually get stuck in this mode and it's not easy to persuade them out of it.

Usually, I try to teach 4 commands of Vi/Vim to beginner : i - insert text/start editing, esc - stop editing, :w - save work, :q - quit. Get comfortable with those 4 commands, the rest will come naturally.

[Gaxus]

Agreed for the most part... however I would add/modify:

-h,j,k,l for movement
-CTRL-[ for stop editing (much faster imo)

I would not exactly say 'high learning curve' as much as I would 'different controls than what you are used to'.

It is not 'hard' to learn, but different from what you have been taught before. It does not really take that long to grasp the basics either.

[je_fro]

Use Emacs for everything. It'll even make your coffee in the morning!

[trashthing]

Emacs; i like how it knows what language i'm programming in and indents the braces and that stuff.

[bryan.6]

i like vi because it holds the basic idea of linux... highly customizable. if you learn enough about it, you can do pretty much anything when editing files... if you learn it, you can edit stuff really fast. but then again... this is a biased post, i have never used emacs in my life.

[ljfong]

Originally posted by Gaxus
Agreed for the most part... however I would add/modify:

-h,j,k,l for movement
-CTRL-[ for stop editing (much faster imo)



I'm using h,j,k,l myself for movement but I have seen some long-time vi/vim users still using arrow keys for moving around !! Trying to convert them to h,j,k,l which is more efficient and faster is tough. Bad habit is hard to break, so yeah, I gotta add h,j,k,l to the list of movements hehe.

As for escape key, for today's keyboard, caps lock is usually located to the left of letter 'a'. Map the caps lock to escape by hacking the registry for MS Windows and use xmodmap (assuming you're using X) for Unix/Linux. Then whenever you want to change mode, your pinky finger will just have to one step to the left. By default, yes, reaching for the esc key to the top left corner is inconvenient.

[scinerd]

I like vi since it's everywhere and since I'm a administrator that's a big plus. When I'm scripting stuff on my workstation I like to use gvim which has some of the features like split windows that I like about emacs. If you are a programer and willing to spend the time to learn it I hear emacs is best.

[sploo22]

I used to use Emacs, but now I am a devoted Vim fan. Why? Because when I use an editor, I want an editor; I don't need a Lisp interpreter, mail client, perpetual ancient Mayan calendar and computer-generated psychoanalyst. That is exactly why I dislike Windows: who needs an OS with the web browser built in?

[serz]

I don't know what's the deal of using emacs/vim. Ok, vi it's ok because it's probably in every unix/linux box. I can only find it useful for programmers...

I'm going to stick to nano/mcedit. Even if you're very used to emacs/vim, you can edit anything way faster with these editors.

[dr_gonzo]

the only editors i use are nano and kwrite because they're really easy to use and it gives me time to learn about more interesting stuff than editors.

[jlmb]

You don't choose an editor...it chooses you! :D

[andysimmons]

Once I got a hold of O'Reilly's Vi Pocket Reference, I've never come across something I wanted to do in Vim that wasn't possible.

[fatTrav]

i prefer VI and not VIM b/c VI runs in a terminal. i don't really like emacs b/c it looks goofy and i simply don't know all the emacs commands and options. plus VI is installed on nearly every unix and unix-based distro...oddly enough gentoo does not have vi during the install and one is forced to use that goofy nano.

pico is an allright editor too. but nothing compares to VI

[ehawk]

Originally posted by kshim5
Use VI because it runs on windowz and linux.

I believe emacs runs in windows, also, via the GnuWin collection of packages.

[serz]

Originally posted by fatTrav
i prefer VI and not VIM b/c VI runs in a terminal.
What do you mean? Both run in a terminal..

[ehawk]

Xemacs is very nice, as it has a GUI-driven menu which makes life simple, while still allowing all the keyboard power "kung-fu typing" of emacs. In fact, as you go through the GUI and select commands, you'll be informed of the keys which would have accomplished the same thing without leaving the keyboard. Kate looked very nice also.

If you need to work in a terminal window, use Jed your emacs knowledge still works. If it doesn't have Jed, get if via wget or ftp while still in the terminal, and install it....it's not that big a deal. If you have no outside connection, okay....might as well add this to the book of "worst case scenarios" (a shark is currently gnawing on your leg, etc.....) use joe, or Nedit, or pico, or nano, or red, or mcedit, or even ed.

[fatTrav]

alas, i was not clear and was also mixing things up with my post. what i meant was "i prefer vi over gvim (the gui version) b/c it runs in cli." i suppose i just associate vi with the "hard core" cli editor and vim with teh GUI version. my mistake.

[goon12]

I like vim, because I learned vi on Unix. It's small, fast, and very powerful. I actually use vi mode on my cli I like it so much ( set -o vi )

VIM is VI-Improved
gVIM is the "gui" version . I use gVim when I am on a windows box as well.

-goon12

[CaptainPinko]

how about jEdit [ www.jedit.org ]? you can run it on any platform and it supports 'pretty-writing.'

[mister_math]

Originally posted by jlmb
You don't choose an editor...it chooses you! :D
Truer words were never spoken, jlmb !

Seeing a preponderance of the replies here being in support of vi, I feel I should stick up for GNU Emacs (not XEmacs; but that's an entirely different flame war).

I used pico for a while on UNIX systems and really liked it, and when I switched over to a Linux system I tried nano. However, I soon found this editor lacking and wanted to try something with more power, and so looked at the very options philkiwi2k3 now wants us to discuss. I tried learning both vim and emacs and in the end just found emacs to be easier to learn. The documentation is more readily available (and there's more of it) and the editor itself is more customizable if you're willing to learn a little Emacs Lisp.

Some people complain about how it's big and has a lot of features you may not want in an editor, but I say: isn't it nice to have those features anyway? I mean, not a lot of desktop users are hurting for 50 MB of space (if even that), so if you don't need the features, don't use them. I would recommend picking up some minimal vi commands so you can edit files on a foreign system without emacs, but again: how often is this going to occur? Most desktop users will be using their own machines where they can make sure the editor of their choice in installed.

While I would normally say something like, "everybody has to choose the editor with which they feel most comfortable," here I'm going to say: USE GNU EMACS.

[leonpmu]

because where I live (Mauritius) we speak both english and french, and I find that vi handles the special characters french which emacs cant..

I used to use emacs until that leetle snag, now I am a vi devotee. Also emacs has become a little bit bloated. I mean, games in a text editor????]


But hey, Linux is all about choice right, in fact maybe you should rather have done a poll, Emacs, VI, Other

[deathadder]

after usin both emacs and vi, i found that emacs was my favourite, simple because i couldnt get the hang of the commands in vi, so out of emacs and vi i would go with emacs, but i have to suggest nano, i used it once and now i use it all the time :), its small, fast, easy to use and not at all bad when it comes to writin java

however i do like some of the emacs features when it comes to programmin

havent really used any other editors so i can comment on them but the number one has to be nano

[otbibb]

I use GNU Emacs, mostly because I can run it in X mode or in the Console (same exact program, it just starts in the appropriate mode). Also, I really like the extensions for writing LaTeX and BibTeX files. If you use BibTeX, it's way better than using Pybliographer or something like that, in my opinion. Also, I like how you can use the keyboard shortcuts [M-q] or the full command name [M-x fill-paragraph], depending on your whim at the time. (With command completion, the commands are a lot quicker to type in than you'd think. It works just like the bash shell, even giving you possible completions for what you've typed so far.)

Emacs is also getting better font handling with each release. In my current setup, I have it set to use Times proportional font for the screen font in X, but it defaults back to Courier in the console. For the kind of writing I do, the proportional font makes the text easier to read, and I don't need the precise column alignment you get in a fixed-width font.

I agree that it is "bloated," and I don't use any of the extra features such as mail, news, calendar, etc. For editing, though, I love it. I wonder if it's possible to compile it without those extra modules...?

BDB

[nko]

nano! Sometimes vim, especially if I'm on a new system that didn't include nano. I just don't DO that much text editing :). I'd use Vi(m) a lot more if I needed it. I find the only file I edit with much regularity with Vi is xf86config-4 (so that I can get the basic desktop set up before installing software). Even though I could download nano before getting X up, I go for vi just because of two features; starts instantly, and puts my cursor where I left off. Very important features when you're dealing with what I deal with with it.

Emacs has always been too much for me to touch. *shrug*